Renowned African-American artist Jacob Lawrence broke ground with his expressive paintings depicting African-American life and history. Strongly influenced by his surroundings in Depression-era Harlem, Lawrence (1917 – 2000) was also inspired by the community’s rising African-American writers, artists and musicians. The artist created images brimming with flat, fragmented shapes and brilliant colors and dubbed his style “dynamic cubism.” He was nationally recognized at age 24 when his masterpiece, “The Migration Series,” was exhibited in New York.